Orthodontic braces typically comprise brackets glued to the front of each tooth and an arch wire connecting each of the brackets. These dental devices help to improve overall dental health by aligning and straightening a person's teeth. However, braces may also contribute to dental problems. One of the most prevalent problems contributed to by braces is plaque buildup, which can lead to white-spot lesions, and further, to dental caries (i.e. tooth decay, cavities) by causing demineralization of tooth enamel. With the brackets and arch wire disposed along the facial surfaces of teeth, food becomes trapped in and around the braces. This accumulation of food allows for dental plaque to easily form. People with braces, therefore, need to practice excellent oral hygiene, in order to maintain healthy teeth and gums.
However, for many orthodontic patients, achieving the necessary oral hygiene to prevent plaque buildup is difficult, especially due to the design of braces and the patient's oral anatomy. Conventional toothbrushes are not adapted to properly clean all areas of teeth having braces. Such toothbrushes are especially unable to reach and clean regions of the teeth between the brackets and gum line (gingival region), partly because the brackets, themselves, obstruct this region. Further, the heads of conventional toothbrushes are not adapted to adequately and comfortably fit into the oral vestibule (i.e. labial and buccal vestibules) and gain access to these remote areas.
Some toothbrushes have incorporated new designs in order to promote healthier oral hygiene for orthodontic patients. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,227 to Fulop et al. discloses an orthodontic toothbrush having a linear handle attached to a large brush head with bristles extending perpendicular therefrom. The brush head includes at least five rows of bristle bundles which slope outwardly upward, producing a concave configuration adapted to encompass a bracket of the braces. However, the perpendicular bristles of the toothbrush still do not provide for improved access and cleaning of the remote regions of the teeth between the braces and gum line, especially under the bracket tie-wings. When using the traditional Bass technique of brushing, which involves directing the bristles of a toothbrush toward and into the gingival sulcus, the Fulop toothbrush as well as conventional toothbrushes cannot properly clean all areas of the braced teeth. The reason for this is the brackets of the braces prevent the bristles from penetrating and reaching areas of the teeth obstructed by the brackets, themselves. In order to achieve a satisfactory, but less than optimal, cleaning of the gingival region, the orthodontic patient must precisely angle the Fulop toothbrush in such a manner that the bristles are forced into the crevice gaps between the gums and braces. The orthodontic patient, accordingly, must position his hand and arm to perform an awkward brushing technique. Furthermore, the dimensions of the brush head with five rows of bristles make it difficult to brush the rearmost teeth (i.e. molars) where the space between the teeth (with braces attached thereto) and cheek is small. This problem is worse for children, who have smaller oral vestibules than adults. The spacing problem is also aggravated when the orthodontic patient tries angling the toothbrush such that the perpendicular bristles are oriented towards the inner crevice gaps between the gums and braces. In general, prior art orthodontic toothbrushes as well as conventional toothbrushes employed with the Bass technique fail to provide sufficient cleaning of an orthodontic patient's teeth, particularly the remote regions of the teeth between the braces and gum line.
It is therefore desired to overcome these disadvantages and provide an orthodontic toothbrush that is adapted to reach and effectively clean the gingival regions of the facial surfaces (i.e. labial and buccal surfaces) of teeth that are obstructed by braces. It is also desired to provide an orthodontic toothbrush that does not require unnatural positioning of the hand and arm to perform the brushing. It is further desired to provide an orthodontic toothbrush having one or more brush heads that are specifically configured to properly clean the top and bottom teeth, left and right of the dental midline, with braces attached thereto, without causing pain or injury to any part of the mouth.